Sonic 06
by Pax the Dreamer
Summary: In a parallel universe, Sonic 06 was remastered and made into an actually GOOD game. A rift in space/time has opened, and a walkthrough from this peculiar universe has slipped through into ours. Enjoy a walkthrough/fanfic of what Sonic 06 could have been, as imagined by yours truly.
1. Introduction and Characters

**Author's Note: I think this thing speaks for itself. Inspired by the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3 by Ry Senkari while browsing TV Tropes and my own boundless need to punish myself, I wanted to take a crack at one of the worst games in all of existence… and, admittedly, my guilty pleasure. Enjoy.**

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Sonic 06

A comprehensive walkthrough by Pax the Dreamer

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Contents

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Introduction  
Characters and Gameplay  
Story  
Levels (Spoiler free)  
Missions  
Achievements  
Bugs and Exploits  
Special Thanks

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Introduction

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Coming out in 2006, Sonic the Hedgehog (dubbed Sonic 06 by its dedicated fanbase) was released in an incredibly buggy state. Many Let's Plays of the old version can be found on YouTube, poking fun at just how dreadful the product was. If left at that, this would have likely marked a dark age for the Blue Blur that would have taken a miracle to escape from.

The complete rebuilding of the game released in 2008 was said miracle. Featuring a completely redone story, game design and general overhaul of many things in general, this version of the game trumped the prior in every way imaginable. Released for free to those who already owned a copy of the bugged version (which will from this point forward be called Sonic 06 Alpha), this game has a small but steadily growing fanbase.

That's in part why I'm writing this walkthrough. Sure, it's a Sonic game, and it really doesn't take a genius to figure out how to play a Sonic game (except for Team Chaotix's gauntlet levels in Sonic Heroes speaking from the perspective of a 10 year old kid), but this walkthrough is more to raise awareness to those that have yet to buy a copy. Some have their experiences soiled by Sonic 06 Alpha, but take my word for it: Sonic 06 Alpha is NOT an indicator of this game's quality. Give it a try!

With that said, let's dig into the meat of this game.

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Characters and Gameplay

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**Sonic the Hedgehog:** The Blue Blur, the cool dude with attitude. You know him, you love him, and he's taking the forefront of this game. The fastest character in the game, a good player can make a level pass by in the blink of an eye while in control of Sonic. During normal stages, he can jump with the A/X button and, if near an enemy, utilize the homing attack by pressing the A/X button again. This will cause Sonic to home in on the nearest enemy and smash it to pieces.

While moving, Sonic can curl into a ball by pressing the B/O button. While rolled into a ball Sonic can destroy any enemy or item box he comes into contact with, and if rolling down a slope he'll reach speeds faster than he would if running. Granted, while rolled into a ball and NOT on a slope, he'll slow to a stop. Fortunately, another quick press of the B/O button will have Sonic back on his feet and running again.

While standing still, pressing and holding the B/O button will make Sonic roll into a ball and perform a Spin Dash. The longer you hold the button, the longer Sonic will rev in place, and the more speed he'll have when you let go of the button. You can reach INSANE speeds with this feature, and if you know where to jump while spin dashing, you can take incredible shortcuts across the level.

While grinding on rails, Sonic can increase his speed by pressing the B/O button repeatedly. If next to another rail, Sonic can jump between rails by pressing the shoulder buttons.

The Y/Δ button only has a single function – Light speed dash. Taking a leaf out of Shadow the Hedgehog's book, the Light Speed Dash is assigned its own button so as not to cause confusion/frustration in the player. When Sonic approaches a trail of rings, pushing Y/Δ will have Sonic blaze across the trail of rings at the blink of an eye.

The X/□ button allows Sonic to use his team mate's ability. Listed below are each of his Amigos and their respective ability:

Elise the Phoenix – Create a sphere of fire around Sonic, destroying anything in his path.

Tails – Grab onto Tails and have him fly you around for short periods of time, a callback to his ability in the Genesis days.

Knuckles – Tag out and let Knuckles take over with his own moves and abilities. Useful for finding secrets or taking a shortcut.

Personally, I always stick with Elise unless I feel experimental with how I want to approach my path. I generally have a route planned out, and Elise just makes it easier to blaze through the level at high speeds without fear of getting hurt.

To swap out your assigned partner at any time, simply press the left trigger button. The currently assigned partner will appear in the upper-left hand corner of the screen as their face on an emblem directly next to your Ring count. The Amigos will cycle through as Elise Tails Knuckles Elise, when all three characters are available in a level. This can get frustrating if you need to jump to another ability quickly, but from personal experience this doesn't happen often. Obviously, if for story reasons one or more of the characters are missing you can't choose to use them during the level.

Sporadically throughout the game, Sonic will engage in something called a Mach Speed section, in which his base speed doubles as he follows a straight path forward and dies in one hit from anything. During these sections, Sonic can strafe to the left or right by pressing the left or right shoulder buttons. A quick tap will have him dashing in that direction in the blink of an eye, allowing a player with quick reflexes to dodge an obstacle at the last minute. Being able to defy the laws of physics themselves, Sonic can also utilize this dodging ability while in the middle of a jump to re-position where he's going to land.

Now, remember what I said about Mach Speed sections killing you in one hit from anything? There are two life savers for this. First is Elise's power, in which she can summon a shield of fire to mow down any enemies you run into. Secondly is your lifeline – the Chaos Warp. By using an overcharged Chaos Emerald, Sonic has the ability to pull a Sands of Time and turn back the clock at the cost of some rings with the simple push of the right trigger button. You have about a three second window whenever you hit an obstacle before you officially lose a life, so if you have enough rings, push the button and undo the mistake that cost you that life to begin with. The catch, though, is that rings you've already collected will never come back, even after you rewind time. Be VERY careful on how often you use the Chaos Warp, otherwise you may find yourself screwed in the last ten seconds of a level with no rings on hand.

**Shadow the Hedgehog:** The dark reflection of Sonic, Shadow has recently put his past behind him and has been talked into working alongside GUN as a special operative by Rouge. As Sonic and Shadow grow alongside one another, they begin to diverge in how they approach things, and in Sonic 06 this is incredibly apparent – while Sonic can reach breakneck speeds, Shadow is a tad slower while making up for it in absolutely BRUTAL Chaos powers.

Not to say Shadow is slow, God no. He can still rush a level like nothing, he's simply not nearly as agile as Sonic is. For example, in sections where Sonic would otherwise wall jump across a room where the floor is lava by hopping from pillar to pillar, Shadow would knock a pillar down to create a bridge and keep on running (yes that's an actual part of a level, see Shadow: Flame Core for details).

Like Sonic, Shadow can press A/X to jump and press it again in midair to homing attack. Unlike Sonic, Shadow can charge his homing attack in mid-air to take down larger enemies. Just jump and hold down the A/X button to charge a more powerful homing attack, which will kill any small enemies that run into you. Release the button to unleash the charged homing attack at the biggest enemy in your area. The bigger enemies can still knock you down if they hit you while you're charging, though, so watch out.

Shadow can roll into a ball, spindash, grind on rails and perform the Light Speed dash just as Sonic can, same button input and everything. However, if the Y/Δ button is held down for a few seconds, Shadow will rev up and, when released, perform the Light Speed Attack from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2… unfortunately, like those games, it's not really all that useful save a few boss fights, in which it deals twice the damage as usual. Still, it's there if you want a change of pace – I found that in certain levels, Shadow's Light Speed Attack can actually get across "homing attack chains" faster than Sonic's own homing attack can.

On the bottom of the screen is a meter that fills with every enemy Shadow kills. This meter is his Chaos Energy, and with it Shadow can perform various Chaos attacks with the press of the X/□ button. At the beginning of the game, Shadow can only perform the first Chaos power. However, if you choose to do various side-missions and unlock more Chaos Drives, more attacks will be made available to you. None of these (save the very first and very last) are required to progress through the game, but there is a charm in blazing through everything with little effort.

Chaos Spear – Eats up barely an eighth of the energy bar. You throw a concentrated beam of Chaos Energy at anything at a distance. Not only can this be used to clear out annoying obstacles or enemies from a distance, but it's also required to bring down bridges or flip switches to continue in the level or take an alternative path.

Chaos Snap – 25% energy bar consumption. You glow with a blue aura for ten seconds, and during that time, your homing attack range is doubled. Perfect for the really tricky areas near the end of the game, or accessing hidden paths.

Chaos Burst – 50% energy bar consumption. A powerful attack that obliterates anything directly in front of Shadow. If the player is skilled, it's useful for blowing through bosses (will 1HKO if caught in the attack, easier said than done) but other than that its main use is to open new paths in a level to unlock bonus content and shortcuts in the level.

Chaos Boost – Full energy bar consumption. Shadow turns red and is completely invincible to all attacks for about twenty seconds, as well as the benefits from Chaos Snap. Using this turns Flame Core into an absolute JOKE, as you can literally run across the lava and ignore most of the platforming… unfortunately, by the time you get this ability you'll have beaten Lava Core, so it's only really useful for getting the S ranking or having mindless fun.

Chaos Control – Full energy bar consumption. Time is completely frozen for twenty seconds. This can be ended at any time by just pressing the X/□ button so you don't end up getting stuck waiting for the ability to end in order to progress through the level. Like in Shadow the Hedgehog, during boss battles, time is instead slowed down to a crawl. You only have this ability when Shadow obtains a Chaos Emerald in the story.

All of these abilities can be swapped at any time by pressing the left trigger button. The icon directly next to the energy bar will tell you which ability Shadow has at the ready.

The right trigger button will have Shadow stop in place and charge his Chaos energy, slowly filling the bar as you charge. Personally, unless it's something where I need to throw a Chaos Spear to progress through a level or one of the final battles of Shadow's storyline where he has to use Chaos Control to win, I NEVER use this. It brings the entire level to a grinding halt, and really, you can achieve this just fine by blazing through enemies instead.

**Silver the Hedgehog:** The newcomer to the series, Silver is the walking definition of badass. Being a sentient personification of raw Chaos energy itself, Silver's entire move set is dependent on taking Shadow's Chaos powers and multiplying them by a thousand-fold.

Like Shadow, Silver has an energy bar that's drained as he performs his abilities. However, unlike Shadow, his energy bar CONSTANTLY regenerates. So long as you're not performing any chaos powers, his bar will refill to maximum capacity in no time flat.

Silver's run speed is absolutely pathetic when on his feet. Really, it's more of a slow jog than anything… however, when the left trigger button is held down, Silver will levitate off the ground and blast off at speeds that would make Sonic jealous. When on the ground, this drains no energy. However, while you're crossing any pits or holes or anything that he would normally fall into, the energy bar steadily drains. You may be fast, but you'll still take damage if you hit anything dangerous, so be careful.

Hold down the X/□ button while you're dashing to boost, like in Sonic Rush. While in this state, your energy meter will drain even when you're over land, but you'll crash through any enemy or non-hazardous obstacle you run into. For example, if you boost into a weak wall, you'll blast right through it. However, if you boost into a spike trap, you're still taking a hit.

Press the A/X button when running around to jump. Press it again to double jump, or press and hold it to levitate directly up. Your energy bar will drain as you levitate upward, so don't think you can use this to clip your way through the entire level (well, technically you CAN, but see bugs and exploits for more details).

Pressing the X/□ when not dashing will have Silver Chaos Snap directly to the nearest enemy. This works exactly like a homing attack, only you can do it from the ground if you so wish. All small enemies will be destroyed from the energy of the Chaos Snap, but bigger enemies are only stunned.

Press and hold the Y/Δ button to stand still and display a target on the ground. By moving this target around, the energy bar will drain depending on how far away from Silver you move it. Once released, Silver will teleport directly to where the target is placed. Personally, I prefer to dash or boost my way around locations, but this ability is absolutely invaluable for if you need to perform a very tricky jump or reaching a shortcut.

Pressing the B/O button will drain a portion of Silver's energy bar and shoot out a sphere of concentrated Chaos energy, stunning any enemy it hits or destroying item boxes from a distance. Pressing and holding the button will have Silver stand still and create a Chaos Bubble, a field that slows anything that enters it (save Silver) to a crawl. (On a side note, fun fact: The Sonic 06 remake and Braid were both released in the same year. Things like Sonic's Chaos Warp and Silver's Chaos Bubble just make me think of that game, so I think that's a really fun coincidence.) Only one Chaos Bubble can be created in the field at a time, so holding down the B/O button will make the previous Chaos Bubble vanish. This ability is useful for "cheating" tricky timing puzzles in levels and EXPECIALLY taking down tricky bosses.

Finally, by pressing and holding the right trigger button, Silver can use his Psychokinesis to capture objects and enemies in a psychic field and manipulate them to his heart's content. Next to the energy bar is an icon that can be swapped around by pressing the left shoulder button. The running icon means that Silver can still run jog around while carrying as much as his energy bar will allow. By pressing the X/□ button, Silver will throw whatever he's holding at the nearest target. Press it to throw the objects one at a time, or hold it down to throw objects rapidly. If there's no target, Silver will just throw whatever he's holding directly in front of him. Simply releasing the right trigger button will have Silver drop whatever he's holding, and any enemy he was holding will be stunned for a few seconds after this.

The standing icon, conversely, has Silver stand completely still and manipulate only a single item at a time. The left analog stick will control the object's X and Y axis, while the right analog stick controls the Z axis and spins the object horizontally. Clicking either of the analog sticks will freeze the object on that plane while still being movable with the other – for example, clicking the left analog stick will allow the object to only be moved up or down. While moving an object around, press the Y/Δ button to change the camera angle. The camera moves from Silver Object (front view) Object (Top view) Silver respectively with each press. By pressing the X/□ button, the object being moved will freeze in place and can be jumped on or affected by Silver even once the right trigger is released. Using this, the player can solve many puzzles during Silver's campaign… and, if the player knows what s/he's doing, use this to COMPLETELY sequence break the game (once again, see Bugs and Exploits for more details).

More characters may be used for various side-missions throughout the game, so I'll explain their controls when necessary. That said, let's dive right into the story and first mission.


	2. Sonic: Stage 0

Story

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Like in Sonic Adventure 1, the story is split into different parts, and each part is unlocked once you meet the character in game. For example, when you meet Shadow in Sonic's story, you can play as Shadow. As is to be expected, Sonic 06 starts us off with playing as the Blue Blur himself, so I'll detail his story first.

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Prologue: The Festival of the Sun

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The game starts with a beautiful looking FMV that sets the scene of the game…

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The stars were reflected on the mirror smooth surface of Never Lake. Fireworks could be seen on the mirror surface, reflecting those being set off on the city proper, floating among the clouds above the great lake on a massive disk and chained to the nearby mountains to prevent the city from floating away. Within this city, the population of Avians gathered around a pool in the very center of the city. Within this pool, boats were floating about in circles and the dancers were performing their show for the onlookers, twirling and flying between the circling boats as they danced their moves in the air.

In the center of these circling boats and directly under the peak of which the dancers flew to display their actions was the largest and most extravagant of boats. This boat contained a large, spherical balloon, painted to look exactly like the Little Planet of old. Ancient Falcons, feathers white and donning cloaks, stood at the perimeter of the boat with their heads bowed in silent prayer. Standing before this balloon was a young Phoenix, watching a flame kindled in her own hands. She closed her eyes and took a breath, steadying her shot nerves. She always felt nervous when she used her powers to create flame, because she knew where those powers were based in. Opening her eyes and staring into the heart of the flame, she could almost feel the creature locked away, deep within her heart. If she ever lost control… If that beast were ever released…

"Miss Elise?" asked one of the cloaked figures, snapping the Phoenix out of her trance.

"It…" She put on a smile as she nodded to the concerned figure. "It's alright."

She approached the globe and bowed to the representation of Little Planet, as did the cloaked figures around her. The Dancers stopped their performance, and all noise went quiet as everyone watched Elise with eager eyes.

"We give thanks for the blessed flames," spoke the Phoenix, lifting the fire in her hands above her head. "May we always continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna, heart of the Mother Planet, guide and watch over us with your eternal light."

With this, she stepped forward and knelt down, lighting the fire in a basket under the balloon. Stepping back, everyone watched as the fire lit the planet from the inside, the heat of the flame making it take off into the sky. The citizens burst into cheering, Elise turning to her subjects and waving a hand at them. She allowed herself to smile, a little joy coming to her heart.

BOOM!

Bombs began destroying buildings, throwing concrete into the air and scattering the civilians. Elise ducked and covered her head to avoid the heat of the explosions and the rubble flying over her head. She looked up only to see robot sentries surround her on all sides. The cloaked figures backed up as the robots aimed their hand-mounted machine guns at them. There was only a single spot in the circle of robots that was unfilled – and that spot was soon replaced by an egg-shaped flying vehicle. The man inside of the vehicle stood and bowed to Elise. The feathers on the back of her head raised as she recognized the evil form of Dr. Robotnik, the cruel dictator that once doomed their future to slavery. Beak clenched, she gripped the gemstone hidden as a necklace under her dress. Whether the pounding in her heart was born of anger or terror, she had to get it under control – she could practically feel the fire inside of her struggling to use this lapse in her control to escape.

"A pleasure to meet you at last, Princess of Soleanna," Dr. Robotnik said cheerfully, standing up straight with a little grin. "I'm sure your people remember me. I am Doctor Eggman. I've come here to obtain the secret of the Flames of Disaster from you, and to take the miracle gems that are the key to its secret: The Chaos Emeralds!"

Elise gasped, looking down to see the faint light-blue glow of her own emerald exposed before the doctor. Her head was filled with so many questions. Wasn't this a Time Stone, not a Chaos Emerald? How did he find out about the Flames of Disaster? What could he possibly want with this power? Why in the world was he calling himself Eggman, of all things?

"Now Princess," Eggman said politely, stepping aside and motioning to his vehicle, "this way please."

Elise backed away, hoping to escape… but to where? She shook her head. If she flew, she would be shot down like that, and her people would no doubt be slaughtered right there on the spot. If she used her power, it was likely she'd lose control, and the Eggman would be the LEAST of her worries if that happened, and… where was that breeze coming from?

The water around them began to part and rise as a blue wind formed around them. This blue wind sped up until it became a literal tornado surrounding them, kicking up waves of the water in the pool around them. She looked around at the blue blur in confusion, slowly putting the pieces together. She gasped in realization as the wind died down, and a voice came from the back of the ship:

"My… that's a snazzy performance there!"

Elise whirled around, eyes widening upon seeing the legendary savior of Little Planet: Sonic the Hedgehog. A smirk on his face, he clapped his hands as he looked at Eggman, kicking off some excess water from the soles of his shoes.

The robots didn't hesitate. They took aim and fired at the blue Hedgehog… only for Sonic to no longer be there as the bullets started flying. One robot exploded as a blue blur ran into him. Then another, and another. Elise tried to keep up, but soon realized how futile this task was. The blur finally stopped as Sonic skidded to a stop directly in front of the last robot, stunned by the force of Sonic's speed. With a smirk, he gently tapped the robot with the tip of his shoe, watching as it fell into the pool below.

"Hope you've got someone to clean that up," he said casually, running over to Elise's side and leaning on her shoulder, making a mock yawn. "Not bad, Eggman. I think this time your robots are _just as_ smart as a rock! You're improving!"

"You… you IRRITATING HEDGEHOG!" The Eggman stamped his foot and pressed a button on his vehicle. "Send in the reinforcements!"

"I think that's our cue to scram!" Sonic said, turning to Elise. "Y'know, I'm not usually into the whole 'saving princesses' thing…"

He quickly swiped his foot under Elise's legs, causing her to fall forward. As she fell, Sonic grabbed her hand and literally slung her onto his back.

"…but in this case, I think I'll make an exception!"

He blasted off, jumping from boat to boat in order to touch land before dashing through the city streets. Elise clung to Sonic's back for dear life.

"Are you… really him?" she asked over the sound of wind rushing by their ears. "The hero who saved Little Planet…?"

"Guilty as charged!" Sonic smirked, eyes forward as he ran by. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"

With this, the two were on the fast lane out of the city.

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Stage 0: Solianna

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And so, the game begins proper! Immediately after this scene ends, we cut to Sonic running through the city with Elise on her back. This isn't the last time we have a stage where Elise rides on Sonic's back, and controls are mostly the same. The major differences is that Sonic can't spindash, jump into enemies or swap partners during these stages… however, to compensate for this, Elise's fire shield lasts twice as long as usual, and after an air dash if the A/X button is held down Elise will spread her wings which allows Sonic to glide. I'll be the first to admit, this isn't the best way to start out a Sonic game, I'd rather be playing as Sonic himself… but it's a short level, so I'll let it slide.

When you start out, you'll be running at high speeds down the ruined streets of Soleanna. This is an automatic sequence, but if you quickly strafe to the right as soon as the level beings you'll hit a one-up capsule. You can use the shoulder buttons to strafe around and collect rings, but mostly this section is to show off the beautiful visuals of the game engine. As you run along and enjoy the impressive visuals of the burning city, Sonic and Elise begin to chat:

**Elise:** Where are we going?

**Sonic:** Anywhere but here!

**Elise:** Well THAT much is obvious.

**Sonic:** Hey, you're the one who asked.

**Elise:** …

This happens periodically throughout this and future levels. Some find this dialogue annoying as all hell, but I personally like it. I think it has a lot of charm and really establishes Elise as a character. Anyway, as soon as this section is over, Sonic will hit a dead-end, surrounded on all sides by rubble and fire.

**Elise:** There's no way out of here!

**Sonic:** That's alright. I prefer to make my own way out!

As Sonic says this, flying robots will float from above to make a path to the roof of the buildings. A nearby hint bubble will explain Sonic's homing attack, as well as his inability to jump into enemies or spindash with Elise on his back. Use these flying guys to homing-attack your way to the roof tops, and keep on running.

Shortly ahead, the path splits in two: You can jump down a gap to get back onto the streets, or jump over the gap to continue running across the rooftops. If you're going for time, stick to the rooftop. If you're going for extra goodies, go for the streets. Don't worry, no matter which you choose, you'll still loop back to the same point later in the level.

Going down to the street:

**Elise:** Don't you think it would be faster to stay on higher ground?!

**Sonic:** Hey! No backseat driving!

Sonic lands in a narrow alley. If you back up toward where the camera is facing, you'll find a piece of **Concept Art**, which you can view in the Extras menu. These things can be found scattered all around different levels alongside **Bonus Tracks** and **Behind the Scenes Videos**, so keep your eyes peeled.

The narrow alley will end with a dash panel directly before a sharp right turn. Hitting this dash panel will change the camera angle and show Sonic skidding to a halt before dashing in the new direction, with Elise nearly being flung off his shoulders.

**Elise:** AAAH!

**Sonic:** You've gotta hold on tighter than that!

**Elise:** Excuse me for not knowing you were going to stop on a dime like that!

The following area has Sonic automatically running. Like before, press the shoulder buttons to dash left and right to collect the trails of rings. At the end of the alley is a spring that launches Sonic back onto a rooftop in front of a 10 Ring Item Box.

Staying on the rooftops:

After jumping the gap, a laser will come and destroy the houses in front of you, right where a long trail of rings begin.

**Elise:** It's another dead end!

**Sonic:** Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I make my own ways out!

A nearby hint bubble will explain how to Light-Speed Dash. Simply run to the trail of rings, hit the Y/Δ button… and watch in amusement as Sonic rotates in the air and Elise is trying to hold onto him for dear life.

**Elise:** Don't look down don't look down don't look down

**Sonic:** Wait, the bird girl is afraid of heights?

**Elise:** Sh-shut up!

Sonic lands onto a rooftop in front of a 10 Ring Item Box, the same location you'd have ended up if you fell into the alley. Once you hit the item box (an unavoidable event given the level layout), you engage in a cutscene where the rooftop begins to shake and collapse, causing the two of them to fall in towards the rubble. This scene is set in slow motion, and Elise's Chaos Emerald begins to glow. The screen flashes an instruction to hold down the right trigger button. As you do so, the screen turns black and white and rewinds time to before you hit the item box, eating up the ten rings you just collected to do so. Once time returns to normal, Sonic skids to a halt in front of the (still broken) item box and watches as the roof collapses.

**Elise:** Did we just… turn back time?

**Sonic:** Sweet! That'll come in handy!

They continue as Sonic jumps over the gap and engages in another automatic running segment, transforming the rest of the level into a Mach Speed Section.

**Elise:** Come in handy…? Why aren't you questioning this more?!

**Sonic:** The way I see it, I'm gonna be happy first and ask questions later.

**Elise:** Why do I get the feeling that's your mantra for almost everything…?

This portion is relatively straightforward, with a few item boxes and trails of rings to collect. Collect as many rings as you can – it's always good to have insurance in case you need to rewind time a lot during these segments. After a short while, a ramp will take you off the rooftop and onto the streets, where robots begin to appear.

**Sonic:** Well look who decided to join the party!

**Elise:** Sonic, keep focus on your running. I can take care of these robots.

**Sonic:** …oh, I'm sorry. For a second I thought you were serious.

**Elise:** I AM serious! I can use my control over fire to give you a temporary fire shield that you can ram into these robots with!

It's at this point another button prompt shows up, telling you to push X/□ to use the flame shield. When using the flame shield, keep an eye on Elise. She'll glow brighter the longer she uses the shield. If you stop the shield before she gets red hot and wait for her to cool off a bit, you can go back to using it without an issue. However, if you burn her out with the flame shield, you won't be able to use it again until she completely cools off.

**Sonic:** So… you can summon a shield of fire… and you still needed my help to save you?

**Elise:** I never asked for you to swoop in and save me!

**Sonic:** Oh, that's alright. We still have time for me to turn around and put you back.

**Elise:** …you're infuriating.

**Sonic:** I know. It's part of my charm!

The stage continues in a relatively straightforward fashion from here on. There aren't any branching paths and not very many obstacles either. This whole section is just a training area to prepare the player for future Mach Speed Sections. While a bit boring on multiple playthroughs, the visual spectacle of Soleanna on fire still makes it worth it. At the end of the Mach Speed Section comes the outer rim of Soleanna, and one of the chains that connects it to the mountain.

**Sonic:** There's our exit!

**Elise:** You're not really going to…?

**Sonic:** You know it!

The final segment of this level is an automatic running section, in which Sonic jumps onto the chains and runs directly down them, a fun callback to the opening animation of Sonic CD. The camera zooms out to, once again, showcase the beautiful animation of the floating city in flames and the glowing blue dot that is Sonic running down the chains. He picks up immense speed during this closing animation, reaching down to the mountain and spinning down it. The camera finally catches up with Sonic as he hits a loop-de-loop structure and comes to a halt right at the end goal.

The victory animation for this level is adorable: Sonic begins to do his usual victory pose as Elise hangs on, swirls in her eyes. She falls off Sonic's back, and he turns to look at her in concern as the ending screen continues onward.

* * *

Ranking:

**S Rank:** Take the rooftop route for a shorter time and avoid turning back the clock more than twice during the Mach Speed Section.

**A Rank:** Have more than 80 rings by the end of the level.

**B Rank:** Play the level normally. Trust me, you'll get this rank no problem.

I'm convinced the only conceivable way to achieve Ranks C-E is if the player actively waits around for ten minutes and then goes out of their way to avoid every ring in the level.


End file.
